Tag: maple

I knew I’d get behind on this blog. I expected to last more than 4 weeks. In fairness, I have made several dishes lately, but hesitate to call many of them “new”.  Also, for all its virtues, the InstaPot does not make particularly attractive food. Let’s get to it: last week’s post, started a week ago and wrapped up today.

Yes, I’m counting this one. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Okay, I was being mostly sarcastic last week but with the world going to hell in a handbag, booze is now an acceptable dinner (#alternativefacts). Maybe I’ll whip up a batch of the cheese bread to go with this. Probably not, though, because I don’t think it will last that long. I also made a dessert this week. I’ll share my secret if you keep reading.

I’ve not slept well, I’ve a million and three stressors in my life right now, many of my own creation (two are fighting on the porch right now), and I’m making a reliable standby for dinner (maybe recipe 4.5, but not today). I’m a bourbon girl and had wanted to do a sage bourbon cocktail (we have what can nearly be described as a sage tree in our kitchen) but alas, it requires an orange peel and this house hasn’t seen an orange since I made fruitcake over Thanksgiving weekend. So, Pinterest to the rescue, I found one that uses lemon (the world’s saddest lemon just happened to be rolling around in our produce bin, probably since Christmas), rosemary (happy day! we also have a slightly out-of-control rosemary shrub), maple syrup (one of the four Elf food groups! Told you this could be a meal), and bourbon.

Here is the original recipe. It makes 2 drinks. I had planned to make the original recipe so I could give it a fair review (and also because halving 3/4 of a shot of syrup seemed like a hassle) but our lemon was SO SAD that I could only squeeze one ounce of juice from it, even with my incredible citrus press(courtesy of EJ Moore).

 

 

For one sour:

• 1 small sprig rosemary plus one for garnish

  

• 2 ounces of bourbon (recipe called for 3 shots, a shot and a half is 2.25 ounces, which is too tedious for a weeknight cocktail)
• 1 ounce lemon juice (again, recipe called for 1.5 shots, and 1.125 ounces? please)
• half an ounce of maple syrup (because decimals, again. And make sure you’re using real maple syrup here)

Crush the large sprig of rosemary in your hand and add it to the shaker. I muddled the rosemary in the shaker. I’d rather have the aromatic oils in my drink than on my hands.
Add the bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup and ice to above the level of the liquid and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. I guess it was about that long? I shake until the entire shaker feels ice cold. I think I saw that on Good Eats.
Strain the mixture into rocks glasses containing large cubes of ice and garnish with remaining rosemary sprigs. I wanted a little more rosemary essence so I rubbed a sprig around the rim of the glass before dropping it in the drink. 

I would definitely make this again. Though I’d prefer to make the whole recipe or even double it for guests. Then I could use my weekend cocktail shaker. I like that with a few adjustments, you could make this as sweet or as tart as you like on the spot, since the maple syrup dissolves readily into the cocktail.

UPDATE: I did end up making the cheese bread. And I actually followed the recipe this time and things turned out much better than before.

For dessert, Super Secret Brownies… here’s your reward for reading all the way to the end:

Buy a box of Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate and follow the recipe printed inside (conveniently, the ingredient list is printed on the outside so you don’t have to hit the grocery twice). Omit nuts if your children, like mine, don’t like “those little yellow things.” I substitute chocolate chips.

I’m actually doing a legit meal this week. Standby for recipe #5.